Suspected ASD - what to expect at paediatrics consultation?

[MandMand]

Hello,

I wondered if anyone could give me some guidance about what to expect at my son's forthcoming appointment with community paediatrics for possible ASD? He will be 4 in July.

He was originally referred to SALT by the HV when he was 2.5 due to his lack of speech, and repetitive behaviours such as humming/grunting.

Since starting pre-school when he was 3.2, his speech has progressed hugely, to the extent that the SALT is happy to sign him off, but she has referred him for this paediatrics assessment because of concerns about his lack of social skills/eye contact and some of his continuing repetitive behaviours such as echolia and opening/closing doors.

Can anyone offer any advice about what is likely to happen at this consultation? Thanks very much.

When we went the paed already had some notes I'd written about DS under various headings such as social communication, sleep, speech, stomach problems, sensory issues.

She asked us a lot of questions about his behaviour and observed him.

Also gave him a puzzle, bricks and pegs and a pegboard. She called him by name and tried to engage him in joint attention and eye contact.

He played with other toys as well when the formal stuff was over, lined them all up in categories around him which was probably more telling than the assessment tasks.

At the end she showed us a check-list of criteria for ASD and we discussed whether we agreed that he met statements on it. I think he matched all but two fairly clearly.

Once the dx was established she told us what would happen. Developmental pre-school, a special SALT, one to one at mainstream playgroup (all of which we are still waiting to hear about) and advised us to apply for DLA.

She also gave us a prescription for Melatonin to help with his sleep.

We felt very wrung out afterwards even though we had been expecting the diagnosis and some wine was consumed later that evening it has to be said but we were glad it was very clear cut.

Hope this helps and that you get a good outcome

Lots and lots of questions regarding development, communication, social interaction with peers, any unusual behaviours you have noticed,...
Our community paed. went throught 45 mins of questioning me, she was also observing DS , then interacted through play with him.
She already had a salt report and a report from HV who went to his nursery to observe him.
She gave a verbal dx of mild ASD.
She explained what the plan was next re: involment of other professionals at nursery. Also decided she would review DS 6 months later to decide whether he would need to have a full ASD assesment.

That was the first appointment with the paed.

Thanks, this is really helpful.